


Stupid Love

by ChameleonCircuit



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 9-1-1 Week 2020, Fluff, M/M, Romance, buddie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25118317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChameleonCircuit/pseuds/ChameleonCircuit
Summary: “You couldn’t be this romantic if you tried,” he teased, no malice in his words.“You wanna bet?” Buck asked, raising an eyebrow as he sipped his wine.“$20.”“You’re scared you’ll lose,” Buck teased.“Fine, $50.”“You’re on.”
Relationships: Buddie - Relationship, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 337





	Stupid Love

**Author's Note:**

> This is likely the only 911 week fic I'll write because I have had zero motivation despite wanting to do all the prompts so...enjoy.
> 
> https://sofuckingchuffed.tumblr.com/post/622938454469345280/stupid-love

Buck was tired. So tired that it took a moment for him to take in the scene in front of him as he stepped into his apartment. His eyes trailed over the table set for two, the candle delicately placed in the middle, the sight of Eddie standing at the stove, body moving almost imperceptible to the music that was softly playing as a backdrop to the scene. He blinked before rubbing his eyes as a grin tugged at his lips. This was real, he wasn’t dreaming. Eddie Diaz was standing in his kitchen cooking him a  _ romantic _ meal.

He dropped his bag at the door and the sound made Eddie jump before he spun around, eyes wide.

“You’re early.”

“Not that early,” Buck said quietly, making his way across the room.

“Wasn’t expecting you for another 10 minutes at least,” Eddie muttered, averting his eyes as he turned back to the stove.

Buck leaned against the counter, ducking his head to meet Eddie’s eyes. “I’m glad,” he said quietly, grin still splitting his face in two. “I can’t believe you would rob me of this view.”

Eddie laughed, shaking his head. “It’s almost done.”

Buck took a moment to just watch, to take it in, letting the warmth that had settled in his chest chase away the exhaustion clinging to his bones.

After a while, he pushed himself upright and wrapped his arms around Eddie’s waist from behind, pressing a kiss to his shoulder before resting his chin there. “Anything you want me to do?”

“No,” Eddie turned the stove off, turning in Buck’s arms. “This is for you. Go sit down.”

He didn’t argue despite how unused to this he was. He just took it for what it was, offering Eddie a peck on the lips before taking his place at the table, smile never once leaving his face.

They ate in silence for the most part, but eventually, Eddie laughed, resting his elbows on the table to lean across, towards Buck, eyes twinkling. “What?”

“What?” Buck countered, brow furrowing in confusion.

“What are you smiling about?”

“This.” Buck gestured at the almost-empty plates in front of them before reaching for his wine. “It’s nice.”

“I’m glad you approve.”

“Just means I’m gonna have to up my game.”

Eddie’s brows shot up as he sat back in his chair, arms folding across his chest. “You couldn’t be this romantic if you tried,” he teased, no malice in his words.

“You wanna bet?” Buck asked, raising an eyebrow as he sipped his wine.

“$20.”

“You’re scared you’ll lose,” Buck teased.

“Fine, $50.”

“You’re on.”

—

Buck couldn’t believe his luck as he loaded up his Jeep, covering the picnic basket with an old blanket so it wouldn’t stand out. The weather was perfect and, with sunset not far off, he was sure the weather would hold for the duration of the date he had planned.

He wouldn’t answer Eddie’s questions as he drove them to his favourite spot overlooking the city.

“Buck?” Eddie asked with a small frown as they pulled over on the side of the road onto a small dirt patch that had clearly seen many cars pull into it before.

“Patience is a virtue, Eddie,” Buck teased before closing his car door.

“You’re not planning to murder me, are you?”

“Really?” Buck pointedly peered around the car to raise his eyebrow at Eddie. “There’s much better places to murder someone than here.”

“So you’ve thought about it?” Eddie asked with a teasing grin, coming around to Buck’s side of the car just as he pulled the picnic basket out. “Oh, my God.”

“What?” Buck asked, heart dropping as he wondered if he’d made a mistake, if this wasn’t the romantic gesture he thought it was.

“This is you trying to one-up my dinner, isn’t it?”

Buck tilted his head, studying Eddie’s face, but for the first time possibly ever, he couldn’t read him.

“Is this bad?” He asked quietly, shielding his eyes from the sun.

“Not sure it beats a candlelit dinner with your favourite meal.” A teasing grin broke out across Eddie’s face and Buck physically sagged with relief, closing the car door. “But I wouldn’t say it’s bad.”

“You just wait,” Buck said, confidence growing again as he led Eddie up a slight incline surrounded by bushes and trees.

“Not sure hikes are all that romantic, Buck,” Eddie continued to tease. “There’s better ways we could—“ his sentence dropped off as they reached the clearing, and he stopped still.

Buck turned around, a triumphant smirk on his face when he saw Eddie’s shocked face basked in the warm glow of the sun as it began to sink behind the low clouds over the city.

“Not bad,” Eddie said eventually.

Buck rolled his eyes, spreading the blanket out for them to sit on. “That’s all you can say?”

Eddie didn’t respond, but then, Buck hadn’t expected him to. He just quietly set about laying out their dinner as Eddie settled beside him, resting back on his hands.

He really did look beautiful like this, deep orange light lighting up his face, expression content. Buck leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Eddie’s mouth before pulling away again, suddenly embarrassed, as though he were looking at something he shouldn’t be.

“What?” Eddie asked softly, taking the glass of wine Buck was offering him.

“Nothing,” Buck said with a quick shake of his head, focussing on loading their plates up.

“What is it?” He persisted, poking Buck in the ribs for emphasis.

Buck settled back with a sigh, handing Eddie his plate. “You’re beautiful.” He turned his head to look at Eddie again, unable to hide the smile from his face. “That’s all.”

“Huh,” Eddie huffed a laugh. “Who knew?”

“That you’re beautiful?” Buck asked, face scrunched up in confusion.

“That you can be romantic after all.”

Buck rolled his eyes, but a laugh escaped him anyway as he turned to his plate of food.

They ate and drank and watched the sun set, laughing and joking the whole time. Just as the sun dipped completely out of sight, the last glow of deep red fading from the horizon, Eddie cupped Buck’s jaw and pressed their foreheads together.

“This was really beautiful,” Eddie said earnestly, voice so gentle it almost carried with the wind.

“I know,” Buck said smugly, earning him a pinch in the ribs.

“God, you’re—“

Buck cut him off before he could finish his insult, capturing his lips in a searing kiss, fingers threading into the short hairs at the back of his head. When they broke apart for air, Eddie pressed their foreheads together again, fingertips trailing across Buck’s jaw and down his neck.

“Guess you owe me $50,” Buck said softly, effectively bursting the bubble that had formed around them.

Eddie huffed. “Not if I can do better.

Buck snorted. “Do your best.”

—

Buck froze as his eyes settled on the small patch of red on the floor in front of him. It blew in the gentle breeze that came through the still-open door towards another similarly-shaped patch of red, and Buck let out a relieved laugh, closing the door behind him. Rose petals. Eddie had left a trail of damn rose petals from the front door all the way up the stairs, and despite how cliche that was, Buck followed them with genuine excitement, not entirely sure what to expect on the other end.

When he got to the bedroom he noticed the door was ajar, soft, flickering light seeping through the small gap that was only wide enough to fit a rose petal right in the doorway

Buck paused for a moment, stomach swooping with either excitement or nerves, he wasn’t sure which, before he gently pushed the door open.

Eddie’s shadow danced across the wall as the light from the candles on the dresser flickered from the flash of air as Buck opened the door, and he was momentarily distracted by it before his eyes settled on Eddie.

Eddie, who was completely naked and sprawled out across Buck’s bed, seductive smirk on his face.

For a moment, all Buck could do was stare, mouth going dry. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t seen Eddie naked before—in fact, he’d seen Eddie naked plenty of times—but there was something different about this, something that almost made him shy, though he couldn’t explain why.

“Well?” Eddie prompted, seemingly unperturbed by Buck’s lack of action.

Buck shook himself out of his daze. “Okay.” He grabbed the hem of his shirt, lifting it over his head as he practically stumbled towards the bed. “You win.”

Eddie laughed as Buck tumbled on top of him, hands and lips roaming, rose petals covering the both of them as they moved together.

Hours later as they lay tangled together beneath the sheets, Buck pressed a feather-light kiss to Eddie’s temple, who hummed a soft, pleased little sound in response.

“You really outdid yourself, you know,” he said softly, lips brushing Eddie’s hair as he spoke.

“I was kinda worried it was too much,” Eddie admitted quietly.

He laughed. “A bit. But in a good way.”

“Hmm,” Eddie hummed, shivering under Buck’s feather-light trail of fingertips down his side. “Good.”

“But you haven’t won yet.”

—

Buck was really excited about this one. He’d thought long and hard, brainstorming ideas with Maddie, Chin and Josh, trying to come up with something Eddie couldn’t top. The problem was, they came up with so many good ideas that Buck was sure Eddie could come up with some of them too. Still, he felt sure this was the one, the perfect thing to prove to Eddie that he was the most romantic of the two. He wasn’t sure why it even mattered anymore, except that he knew he hated losing, even to the man he loved.

As he lit the last candle, he stood back in the doorway to admire his handiwork. He’d never seen so many candles together, and the sight of it was almost intoxicating.

He’d never really been one for candles, not quite understanding the point, until he’d seen Eddie’s body bathed in candlelight, shadows forming across the crevices of his body, skin glowing under the warm light. He wasn’t sure he could ever shake that image, but then, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to, either.

But this—this would be better, he was sure of it.

He checked his watch, making sure it was the right time, before he set the water running in the bath so he could retrieve the wine from downstairs.

The front door opened just as Buck had his hands on the wine glasses and he dropped them, adrenaline coursing through his body like a child caught doing something they know they shouldn’t.

“You’re early,” Buck accused.

“And you’re jumpy. You okay?”

“Yeah,” Buck said through a sigh as he rummaged for the dustpan. “Yes.”

“Here,” Eddie said quietly, reaching for the dustpan himself. “Let me take care of this. You don’t have shoes on.”

“But—“

Eddie rolled his eyes fondly. “Just stand still.”

Buck did as he was told despite how much he hated it. He’d wanted this to be perfect and he’d already gone ahead and ruined it.

“There,” Eddie said with a smile as he emptied the glass into the trash can. “Now, are you okay?”

“Yes,” Buck said with a small sigh. “Just wanted to surprise you.”

“With wine?”

“And a bath,” Buck muttered, lowering his gaze.

“We can still do that.”

“Was supposed to be special.”

“It still can be,” Eddie insisted, gently hooking his fingertips under Buck’s jaw to tilt his gaze back up. “Baths are always special.”

“Yeah, but—“ Buck broke off with a sigh as Eddie wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling him in close. “I was trying to one-up you.”

Eddie laughed before pressing a kiss to the top of Buck’s head. “We can call it even.”

“No.” Buck wrinkled his nose as he pulled back. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“Where’s the fun in stressing?”

“I’m not stressing.” Buck pouted, crossing his arms over his chest before realising just how childish he was being.

At that moment, before either of them could say anything further, the smoke alarm started blaring.

“Shit,” Buck muttered, racing up the stairs before he could think better of it.

He almost slipped on the wet tiles as he entered the bathroom, cursing under his breath as he turned the taps off to stop the bath from overflowing any further. Thankfully, the fire was just a towel that had got a little too close to a candle, and he tossed the towel in the bath water, effectively putting out the fire.

He heard a snicker from the bathroom door and his heart sunk.

“So much for romantic, huh,” he muttered, unwilling to turn and look at Eddie.

After a beat, warm, solid arms wound around his waist from behind and he was pulled flush against Eddie’s chest.

“It’s the thought that counts,” he said quietly. “But I think it’s a sign that we should stop.”

Buck huffed out a dejected laugh, shaking his head. “What kind of firefighter sets fire to his own bathroom.”

“You’d be surprised.” He pressed a kiss to Buck’s cheek before pulling back, taking his hand. “Come on. We’ll get some towels and mop this up and then I’ll order some food. How does that sound?”

Buck sighed heavily before nodding, allowing Eddie to lead him back out into the hall. 

In hindsight, he realised he probably should have planned this better.

—

The competition was meant to be over. Buck knew that, he really did, and he’d thought he’d let it go, he thought he’d accepted defeat, he thought he’d accepted Eddie admitting he can be romantic as some kind of win.

But then it came to him one night in bed when he couldn’t sleep. As he lay there, eyes tracing the curve of Eddie’s shoulder under the sliver of light peeking through the curtains, the perfect idea came to him and he could barely contain his excitement.

He’d spent days, weeks, agonising over how do do it right, how to make it absolutely perfect, but eventually he talked himself down to something small but sweet, too mentally scarred from the bath fiasco to try and be too fancy.

He fidgeted on the spot, fiddling with his tie before forcing his hands into his pockets instead, fondling the key item he’d brought with him.

“How’d you manage this?” Eddie asked, not even bothering to say hello.

He felt his face flush as he rubbed the back of his neck. “A lot of favours.”

“I’ll bet” Eddie said with a whistle, taking in the completely empty restaurant around them, eyes settling over the city skyline for just a moment before turning back to Buck. “I thought we were done competing.”

“We are, we are,” Buck assured, holding up his hands placatingly. “This is different.”

“Different how?” Eddie asked with a frown.

He’d been planning to wait until after they’d eaten, until they were sipping wine and enjoying each other's company and the view of the city around them. He’d planned to leave the best until last but his excitement got the better of him and he was on one knee before he could stop himself.

“Eddie Diaz,” he started, voice catching just a little as his eyes grew wet. “You are the love of my life. I never thought I’d find someone like you, someone who accepted all of me, who supported me unconditionally. I never thought I’d be able to settle down with anyone, especially not after…” he trailed off, shaking his head, not wanting to bring up the past and ruin the moment. “But here you are, the perfect person for me. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

He took a pause to gauge Eddie’s reaction, to judge whether he should stop or keep going, and for a moment he got lost in Eddie’s grin, in the light shining in his eyes, in the beauty that radiated from him. Buck cleared his throat before continuing, pulling the box from his pocket.

“Will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?”

“Yes,” Eddie said with a nod, grin growing impossibly wider as he reached out to pull Buck to his feet.

Buck fumbled to get the ring on Eddie’s finger before embracing him, pulling him flush against his chest.

It took a moment for him to realise the restaurant staff had all come out to watch, and he felt his cheeks flush red again as the applause died down.

“I love you,” Buck whispered, giving Eddie’s hand a squeeze.

“I love you, too,” Eddie whispered back, pressing their heads together.

“Besides, I think I win now.”

The punch in the arm Buck got in response was well deserved but it didn’t stop them both from grinning ear to ear.


End file.
